Chapter 4

Chapter FOUR 'It wasn't just me!' I said, staring in horror at the camera which was now lying right by the bittens' basket. It was too far away for me to be able to grab it. The bittens all scampered over to it, sniffing and licking it, very interested in this new thing that had appeared in their enclosure. 'Miss Spindlewick will be so cross!'

wailed Lavinia. 'What are we going to do?' Then she burst into tears. 'I've never been in trouble with Miss Spindlewick before!' she said. 'Never!'

'Oh,' I said, thinking back to her worried face. Now it all made sense. Lavinia was Miss Spindlewick's star pupil. The expectation to be perfect all the time must feel like a lot of pressure. I couldn't help feeling a tiny bit sorry for her. 'It's OK,' I said, reaching out my hand to pat her arm. 'We'll get it back and Miss Spindlewick will never know!' 'But how?' said Lavinia. 'We'll do a spell to unlock the gate,' I said. 'I'll slip in and grab the camera, and then I'll lock the gate again. No one will know!' 'A spell to unlock the gate?' gasped Lavinia. 'That would be really naughty!'

'I know,' I said. 'But Miss Spindlewick never has to know. Would you rather leave the camera there and get into trouble?' Lavinia stared at me, her face pale. 'No,' she whispered. 'Then let's just do a quick spell,' I said. 'But I didn't bring any potion ingredients,' said Lavinia. 'I didn't expect to have to do a spell!' 'That's OK,' I said. 'I've got emergency potion ingredients with me! You never know when you might need to get out of a situation.' I reached into my top and pulled out a necklace that had a row of tiny bottles on it. Lavinia stared at it in admiration.

'That's brilliant!' she said. I took the necklace off and let her look at it. She gazed at the tiny bottles for a while before saying, 'Crushed moonrock and powdered bat's claw should do it. We can mix them up in the lid of my flask.' Together we opened the tiny, potion bottles and poured the ingredients into the lid of Lavinia's flask, mixing them up with a twig that we found nearby. 'You chant the spell,' I said to Lavinia. 'You always get top marks in potions class. It's got more chance of going right if you do it.'

'OK,' said Lavinia, 'But you have to promise you won't tell Miss Spindlewick that I've done a secret spell.' 'Of course, I won't!' I said, shocked. 'I'm not a tell-tale!' Lavinia smiled at me and I swore I could see tiny sparkles of excitement dancing in her eyes. Then she started to chant: